According to the latest reports, Google agreed to settle the $5 billion lawsuit in which the tech giant has been accused of secretly tracking users.
Google important lawsuit unfolding
Google has agreed to settle a lawsuit in which it was accused of secretly tracking the internet use of millions of people who believed their browsing was private.
The proposed class action was scheduled to go to trial in February. However, US district judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California put it on hold after lawyers for both sides announced they had reached a preliminary settlement.
The settlement terms were not disclosed, but the lawyers confirmed that they have agreed to a binding term sheet through mediation.
They expect to present a formal settlement for court approval by February 24, 2024. The lawsuit had sought at least $5 billion in damages.
The plaintiff consumers and Google’s lawyers have not responded to requests for comment yet.
The plaintiffs claimed that Google’s analytics, cookies, and apps enabled the company to track their online activities, even when they used the “incognito” mode on Google Chrome and “private” browsing mode on other browsers.
They argued that this made Google an “unaccountable trove of information” with access to their personal information, including their friends, hobbies, favorite foods, shopping habits, and potentially embarrassing online searches. In August, a judge rejected Google’s attempt to dismiss the lawsuit.
The judge stated that it was unclear whether Google had promised not to collect users’ data when they browsed in private mode. The judge referred to Google’s privacy policy and other company statements that suggested limitations on the data collection.
Filed in 2020, the lawsuit covered “millions” of Google users since 1 June 2016, and sought at least $5,000 in damages per user for violations of federal wire-tapping and California privacy laws.
Check out more details in the original article posted by The Guardian.
